Self-assembly of POSS-containing block copolymers: Fixing the hierarchical structure in networks

A series of P(MMA-co-GMA)-b-PMAPOSS block copolymers (BCPs) were synthesized by ATRP. The BCPs contain POSS (polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) as a pendant unit on a particular polymer block chain. In selective solvents, the BCPs self-assemble to form ordered micellar-like structures. Spherical, cylindrical or vesicle-like morphologies were produced by tuning the BCP and mixed solvent compositions. Crosslinking of the BCP by the reaction of the glycidyl groups in the P(MMA-co-GMA) block of the micelle shell (GMA = glycidyl methacrylate) with a diamine results in a long-range structure ordering. The hexagonally packed cylindrical arrangement of the BCP networks was revealed by SAXS and TEM. The hierarchical, ordered structure of the POSS-containing hybrids was fixed by crosslinking. In addition, transient physical gels were prepared from triblock copolymers with outer MAPOSS blocks, and their rheological behavior was investigated.     

Steady‐state solutions of a voltage source converter with dq‐frame controllers by means of the time‐domain method

A voltage source converter (VSC) is one of the most widely used power converters in a power system. In this paper, a time‐domain‐based accelerated steady‐state method is proposed to solve for a closed‐loop pulse‐width modulated (PWM) VSC with dq‐frame controllers, which is able to account for the harmonic interactions between the converter and the rest of the power network, between the AC and DC sides of a VSC, and between the converter and its controllers. The proposed time‐domain method is based on the modified time‐domain shooting method, where the Jacobian matrix is updated by the quasi‐Newtons method. This will drastically increase the computation efficiency as it avoids re‐evaluating and inverting the Jacobian matrix, whose size is usually very large for a PWM‐VSC due to high number of times of switching. All the results are shown to be consistent with those obtained by a PSCAD/EMTDC model, which has been validated with the experiment in a previous publication. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of γ-irradiation on enzymatic digestion of oil palm empty fruit bunch

Effect of γ-irradiation and combination treatment with alkali on oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was studied to enhance the efficiency of enzymatic digestibility. γ-Irradiation enhanced the enzymatic digestibility, and the amounts of released galacturonic acid and neutral sugars from EFB by Driselase were increased with an increase in irradiation dose. The main components of neutral sugars released from EFB were glucose and xylose. EFB treated with alkali and 50 kGy irradiation released 1200 μg g^?1 of xylose that was twice amount of glucose showing that the combination treatment was effective especially to increase the digestibility of xylan.     

Effects of electrolyte pattern on mechanical and electrochemical properties of solid oxide fuel cells

In order to enhance the electrochemical performance and reduce the operation temperature of a conventional electrolyte supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), a three layered electrolyte with various geometry is designed and fabricated. Novel three layered electrolytes comprise a dense and thin scandia alumina stabilized zirconia (ScAlSZ) electrolyte layer sandwiched between two hallow ScAlSZ electrolyte layers each having the same thickness as the support but machined into a filter like architecture in the active region with circular, rectangular and triangular cut off patterns. The percent of thin electrolyte layer in the active region is kept constant as 30% for all designs in order to investigate the effect of pattern geometry on the mechanical properties and the performance of the electrolytes. Single cells based on novel electrolytes are manufactured and electrochemical properties are evaluated. A standard electrolyte and electrolyte supported cell are also fabricated as a base case for comparison. Although the electrolyte having triangular patterns has the highest peak power at all operation temperatures considered, it exhibits the lowest flexural strength.     

Characterization of electrosynthesized conjugated polymer-carbon nanotube composite: optical nonlinearity and electrical property

The effects of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) concentration on the structural, optical and electrical properties of conjugated polymer-carbon nanotube composite are discussed. Multi-walled carbon nanotube-polypyrrole nanocomposites were synthesized by electrochemical polymerization of monomers in the presence of different amounts of MWNTs using sodium dodecylbenzensulfonate (SDBS) as surfactant at room temperature and normal pressure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) indicates that the polymer is wrapped around the nanotubes. Measurement of the nonlinear refractive indices (n(2)) and the nonlinear absorption (β) of the samples with different MWNT concentrations measurements were performed by a single Z-scan method using continuous wave (CW) laser beam excitation wavelength of λ = 532 nm. The results show that both nonlinear optical parameters increased with increasing the concentration of MWNTs. The third order nonlinear susceptibilities were also calculated and found to follow the same trend as n(2) and β. In addition, the conductivity of the composite film was found to increase rapidly with the increase in the MWNT concentration.     

Comparing physicochemical properties of banana pulp and peel flours prepared from green and ripe fruits

Banana pulp and peel flour prepared from green and ripe Cavendish banana were assessed for physicochemical properties such as pH, total soluble solids (TSS), water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC) at 40, 60 and 80 °C, colour values L^∗, a^∗ and b^∗, back extrusion force (BEF) and viscosity. Data obtained were analysed by MANOVA, discriminant analysis and cluster analysis. All statistical analyses showed that physicochemical properties of flour prepared from pulp and peel, and green and ripe banana were different from each other. TSS, WHC40, WHC60 and BEF can be used to discriminate between peel and pulp flour, whilst TSS and viscosity can be used to discriminate between flour prepared from green and ripe banana.     

Effect of low-dose irradiation on biogenic amines formation in vacuum-packed trout flesh (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

The effects of vacuum packaging followed by high-energy electron beam irradiation on the shelf-life of fillets of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were examined. Samples were irradiated at doses of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0 and 2.0 kGy. The control and treated packs were stored at 3.5 °C for up to 28, 42, 70 and 98 days (control - 0, 0.25, 0.50 and >0.50 kGy respectively). The content of seven biogenic amines (putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine, spermine, histamine, tyramine and tryptamine) were determined. Putrescine, cadaverine and tyramine showed very good correspondence with the irradiation dose and organoleptic properties. Samples of good quality contained less than 10 mg/kg of each of these amines. The polyamines spermidine and spermine did not show statistically significant changes with the irradiation dose and the time of storage. With few exceptions, histamine was not detected in the samples treated with radiation. Tryptamine was not detected in any of the samples.     

A survey on bug prioritization

Daily large number of bug reports are received in large open and close source bug tracking systems. Dealing with these reports manually utilizes time and resources which leads to delaying the resolution of important bugs. As an important process in software maintenance, bug triaging process carefully analyze these bug reports to determine, for example, whether the bugs are duplicate or unique, important or unimportant, and who will resolve them. Assigning bug reports based on their priority or importance may play an important role in enhancing the bug triaging process. The accurate and timely prioritization and hence resolution of these bug reports not only improves the quality of software maintenance task but also provides the basis to keep particular software alive. In the past decade, various studies have been conducted to prioritize bug reports using data mining techniques like classification, information retrieval and clustering that can overcome incorrect prioritization. Due to their popularity and importance, we survey the automated bug prioritization processes in a systematic way. In particular, this paper gives a small theoretical study for bug reports to motivate the necessity for work on bug prioritization. The existing work on bug prioritization and some possible problems in working with bug prioritization are summarized.     

Umlaufende magnetische KrÄfte in KÄfigankermotoren

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Towards a systematic description of the field using bibliometric analysis: malware evolution

Scientometrics - Malware is a blanket term for Trojan, viruses, spyware, worms, and other files that are purposely created to harm computers, mobile devices, or computer networks. Malware commonly...